Toy figures resembling creeping and crawling animals and reptiles of all kinds have been around for years. Frogs, lizards, snakes, turtles and the like are just some of natures many creatures persons have copied when making these toys. To add realism to such toys, parts of the figures may move as do the real ones to provide for an animated toy figure that more closely resembles a creeping and crawling animal or reptile and its movements.
One of the possible movable parts for the animated toy is the part resembling the tongue, especially when the tongue of the real life creature is used to snatch a potential eatable meal such as a frog extending its tongue to catch and then eat the caught insect. In many cases once the tongue has extended its full length out from the body of the toy creature to attack its prey, the member resembling the tongue must be manually inserted back into the creature's body or mouth or reload to allow the refiring again and the attacking of another prey.
The present invention seeks to over come this reloading necessity by providing for an animated toy with a safe firing extendible appendage or tongue member that will automatically be retracted back into the body of the toy after it has been extended and caught its prey, all as will be described in detail hereafter.